


The Law of the Lawless

by WindyRein



Series: The Birthright of Gore [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Canonical Character Death, Child Stiles, Claudia Stilinski Feels, Claudia is a Báthory, F/M, Gen, I might die of them, Kate dies in the background, Kid Fic, Mentions of Murder, Minor Animal Cruelty, OH MY GOD THE CLAUDIA FEELS, POV Sheriff Stilinski, Possibly Unreliable Narrator, Stiles is a Báthory, The Author Regrets Nothing, There's a dead squirrel, Wilful Ignorance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 05:21:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3838630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindyRein/pseuds/WindyRein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Claudia's his life and if keeping mum means having her in his life, then he won't utter even a word of an implication.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Law of the Lawless

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like I'm far too comfortable in the Sheriff's headspace for a twenty-something girl still trying to pull her life together :D
> 
> Also, this thing is EATING MY LIFE!!! There are notes and scenes scribbled on empty envelopes, on post-its, even in my goddamn message drafts (because derek thinks the best possible moment to talk to me is when I'm half-asleep. fuckin' nerd. :D) and there's even that one memorable email I sent myself from work because the muse decided HEY THESE THINGS!!! HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THESE THINGS??!!!! fuckin' hell...

The first time he comes home to Claudia humming and washing a bloody knife, he feels conflicted; like he should tell someone or find out what happened or just... something.

But then Claudia turns to him beaming like the sun after a thunderstorm and he can't do it, can't turn her in.

***

She tells him about her great-grandmother and about the legacy, about the rules and that cinches it for him.

She says they only kill bad people. _(and he knows his history, okay? there was nothing bad about the countess' victims but then again, something might have gotten lost during all those centuries of second-hand recollections and historians pushing their views on people)_

He's an officer of the law, sure, but sometimes even he wants to put a bullet in those bastards' skulls and just be done with it. So, he won't say anything. _(claudia absolutely being the love of his life doesn't help, or helps too much, he can't decide which it is)_

***

Then, his baby boy is born and he shoves it all to the dusty back corners of his mind. Basically, forgets.

That's why it's such a shock.

He's been Sheriff for six months and comes home after an awful day trying to figure out if Mrs. Myers had killed her husband for his money or because he was an abusive dickwad that no-one liked.

There's running water in the kitchen and Claudia's humming and Szilveszter's clear voice asking "Do they always bleed that much, Mama?"

His heart misses a beat, almost stops and everything crashes to the front of his brain _she'd said legacy, had said her **family**_.

Somehow none of that had ever translated to teaching their child to be a murderer.

***

When Stiles ran up to him one day holding something small and furry, he thought his kid had found some injured animal and wanted to nurse it back to health or something (so sue him, he wasn't really firing on all cylinders those last few months before... or after, claudia died).

"Look, Papa, I killed a squirrel." Stiles sounded so damn proud of himself but Aleksander just wanted to puke. He's sure something of that showed on his face since Stiles' bright smile fell off his face and he dropped his head to look at the ground. "Mama said I should practice." It's almost whispered and there's something like shame in the kid's voice.

Aleksander sighed deeply and crouched so he was more or less on level ground with his kid, "Your Mama told me there are rules you follow. Is killing innocent animals part of those rules?" Stiles turned sceptical eyes on him and drew out the "no" like it was sticky toffee.

"You know your Mama is sick and she doesn't always know what she's saying, right, Szilveszter?" Stiles' eyes widened at that. It had been a long time since he'd called his kid by his given name.

"But she's never lied about our legacy!"

"I know, kiddo. But her brain's not right anymore, she might think it's true even if it's not."

A moment of silence.

"You remember how she thought it was your birthday on Halloween? It's like that. Things have just gotten a bit mixed up in her head." He waits a moment for Stiles to absorb that and give a tentative nod. "Now, we're going to bury this squirrel and afterwards we're going to go see your Mama, okay? You can tell her about what's been happening at school and what you and Heather have been up to. That sound good?"

Stiles chews on his lip for a moment before nodding.

***

After that, Aleksander never sees or hears anything that would even hint at Stiles following in his maternal family's footsteps. He gets complacent _(relieved)_ , he knows, but it seems like Claudia's death had made Stiles lock up everything about her in his head and shove it somewhere where it couldn't hurt him.

Years after that afternoon with the squirrel he finds Kate Argent's mutilated body while investigating a noise complaint.

He calls Chris and doesn't report it and then he just stands there wondering what he's going to do. _(his heart may break and he mourns his little boy)_

***

When he gets home, he can hear Stiles moving upstairs and humming [that same lullaby](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7VvksM_iJs) his mother used to, and he wonders if ignoring something is as effective a tactic of dealing with problems as his son seems to think it is.

For now, he'll try it.

**Author's Note:**

> Missed tags are appreciated and reviews are loved. :)
> 
> Aleksander, Polish & Slovene, meaning "defender of men" (and yes, I'm exactly this... dorky? cheesy? on the nose? something along those lines :D)
> 
> The lullaby isn't quite as old as I was hoping to use but I couldn't pass it up when I heard it and saw the name.
> 
> Also, as a warning, May Day's coming up and for us Finns that means that about half the country goes "LET'S GET SHITFACED LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW!!!" (and yes, I'm one of that half) and then I'm getting dragged to socialize with the family for the long weekend, which means minimal writing/editing time.
> 
> (the thought of peter and the sheriff's first meeting tickles me but also, there's gotta be a stilinski family confrontation at some point, right?)
> 
> (for some unfathomable even to myself reason, I've started posting writing updates on [tumblr](http://poutingtrolltroll.tumblr.com/), so that's there if you wanna see what kind of madness is going on. also, the tag you're looking for is "windy writes")


End file.
